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'Ol' Miss-’Em' Koby strikes again

Friday is opening day for the 2011 youth gun hunt. I know of a bunch of kids who have been looking forward to this day for quite a long time. I’ve got a full agenda for the weekend that includes my boys and some of my ball players.Jake Sconyers, Noah Johnson and Scotty Gibson are loading up and heading out with my boys and I on Saturday. I will be setting them up in deer blinds and tree stands with hopes that they all at least get an opportunity to shoot. It’s not just the kids who are excited — I am, too. Having the opportunity to be with these boys when they shoot their first deer is going to be awesome, and an experience I will never forget.Cash, Jake, Noah and Scotty are all on task to do that this weekend. Nothing could be better than at least one of them connecting with a big ol' buck. Paula told me to take a camera and be sure to take lots of pictures. I am going to try, but I’m not quite the picture person that she is.I want to wish all the kids participating in the youth hunt the best of luck this weekend. Tanner Herrington, Jesse Hammons, Walker Newton, Addison Cripps, Kate Hammons, Bailey Woolbright and Brax and Dax McMillin have all told me that they are planning on getting in the woods this weekend. The deer better watch out!Please be safe and enjoy every part of your hunt. Take Paula’s advice and be sure to take lots of pictures of these kids and send one to me, too, so I can make them smile when they see themselves in the paper!— — —Koby is still snake bit when it comes to deer hunting. We went to Cherokee GMA for the special draw youth hunt last weekend and his luck has held steady. The first day, we saw two deer while driving from one place to another, and jumped a buck and doe while doing some scouting before the evening hunt.On the second morning, we found a food plot that was a half a mile off the road, and decided to hunt it for a couple of hours. After sitting until 8:30 a.m., we started hunting back to the truck so we could try out another little bottom area.While easing down the food plot road, we stopped at a place where a long point came down off the ridge that the road ran along. I told Koby that this would be a good place to sit and watch for a while, since there were some hunters up on the ridge above us. I had just finished saying that when a doe and fawn came bouncing off that very point heading right toward us.The doe stopped for a split second at 20 yards before spotting us and bounding off. The fawn started hopping after her, so I whistled and it stopped at about 30 yards. Koby shot and the bark on a blackjack tree exploded just a couple of feet from the deer. The little fawn hopped once and stopped again not sure of what had just happened.Koby chambered another round in his .243 and settled in for the shot. Well as shook up as he was, he did not settle in too well, so he missed again. The little deer bounced off into some thick stuff and disappeared. I told Koby to stand still because I thought it was standing there trying to figure out what to do now. After about five minutes, I decided that he might have hit the deer, and it must have laid down. So, we went to check for blood where it had been standing when he shot at it.After about two steps, the little dude took off up the hill from about 50 yards away and kept running until it was out of sight. I felt so bad for Koby. He was just sick, but I still could not help laughing a little. Since the opening day of bow season, he has missed seven times (I think I am going to change his name to “Ol' Miss-’Em,” but the good thing is that he has seen more deer than anyone of us hunting with him. We ended up seeing three more deer, including a big buck, but he did not get a shot at any of them.I really enjoy getting my boys drawn out for those youth hunts, and next year I am putting Cash in for some of them, also. He is going to try his hand with a gun for the first time this weekend for the youth season. He has really came a long way in a short time.